Looking at purchasing a 2006 X-Type Sport automatic transmission with 60k miles. Has the sport package, navigation package, alpine sound, bbs rims, carbon fiber trim, sport trim, alcantara interior, premium package. Talk me out of buying it! Any suggestions would be helpful. My last car was a 2006 Mini Cooper JCW.

 

JDB, I can see 2 reasons why you may not want to buy the car, but they are both situational.

1) I see you live in Denver. The car is AWD. So, this on the face sounds like a bonus. But, the transfer case for the car is an open design. So, what does this mean to you? Simple, unless there is something else in the car, when one wheel looses traction, it is going to take all the power from the other wheels and leave you no better off than a FWD or RWD vehicle. With this being said, I believe by 2006 Jaguar realized this shortfall and made it standard to have DSC (Dynamic Stability Contol) added to all vehicles. You can tell if the car has DSC or not by simply looking on the center console for the DSC button near the gear shift. If it doesn't have it, probably best to pass on the car because of where you live.

2) Are you planning on having fun with the car and push it from light to light to see what it can do? Once in a blue moon, the car will hack it and have fun. But, repeated hard accelerations are not nice to this car. In the early days of the car, there were numerous issues with people destroying transfer cases, resulting in a $3000 repair bill. I will admit that most of those weak transfer cases should be off the roads by this time. But, what is the history of the transfer case that you are getting? There are a few members that are "doing a study" for the rest of the members and they are driving their car aggressively non-stop. So far there has not been any issues. So, take this for what it is worth.

On a side note, does the car have the 3.0L or 2.5L motor? Both motors make comparable power and will both move the car adequately. Where the big difference comes is where the power meets the road. The 2.5L motor loves to get wound up and once you get it above say 3,000 RPM, it makes more than sufficient power. BUt, below 3,000 RPM you may find it a little lacking when you relate it to the 3.0L motor. On the flip side, the 3.0L motor is a brute straight from the line and has a constant pull across the whole RPM range. When I had my X-Type with the 3.0L motor, to pass a car, I simply got into the gas and the car remained in the same gear and around I went. Where the 2.5L motor will probably end up downshifting to get the RPMs up to get around the car in a timely manner.

One other thing to consider is if you plan on upgrading the stereo. With the Nav system, that is going to be quite the challenge as the climate control system is integrated into the radio. So, you are pretty much stuck with the radio unless you do some very expensive modifications to work around that.

Notice, there isn't much that I can really say negative about the car. yes, it has its normal issues (vacuum leaks, rear suspension problems, etc) like any other car is going to have. But, with this site, these are known issues and we have the quick fixes for them that won't cost you a fortune to fix.

 

Why would someone want to talk you out of buying that? It sounds like a great car. Unless there are some issues with it you haven't mentioned I think you regret not buying it if you pass it up. That, and if it did not have DSC. You don't have that and it won't do well in the snow.

As long as you change the fluid in it, the transfer case should be fine. Like Thermo said, most of the bad rap on them was from the early cars. You have a 2006, so you should be fine.

By the way, if it is a 2006 it would have the 3.0 motor. I think they stopped offering the 2.5 in 2005 or maybe it was after that model year.

How much are they asking for it?

 

Not to dispute the experts with much (yes, MUCH) more experience on these X400's, but I bought mine (2006, 3.0 NO button by the shifter, so pretty sure no DSC) this past March. Drove it from N.J. to Utah, through a very, very bad blizzard beginning in Iowa through, Nebraska, Wyoming (got stuck in Cheyenne overnight = freeways closed), and on to Utah. Some of the roads in Wyoming from Cheyenne to Evanston were so uneven with ice and snow pack, I felt as if I were off roading in a dune buggy. I did unfortunately hit a large block of ice about the size of an ice chest that gouged a pretty nice gash in the driver's side bumper underneath. I've driven well over a couple of million miles during my few decades on this 3rd rock from the sun and this trip was in the top 3 worst conditions I've experienced. This car handled the roads very well. I never felt as if it were just front or rear drive type of handling. It felt very stable. I was actually pretty impressed with the performance. Completely frozen sections of pure ice were sketchy, but I don't think any vehicle can do well of sheets of pure ice.

 

Thermo,

Thanks for your response. I appreciate your insight. I do live in Denver and DSC is a bonus especially in the winter. I had DSC in my fwd mini cooper and did ok, I hope the Jaguar is better in that regards.

The X-type I'm interested in is a 3.0 with DSC and the sport option. I don't plan to thrash around in it, but I do confess I have a leadfoot.

The stereo isn't a huge concern of mine, the only thing I'd like the ability to use would be an aux input.

----
Alfadude,

Its a great car no doubt and has a lot of key options priced at 8k. How bad are the transfer cases?

----
Dell Gailey,

I could imagine the x-type, if fitted with DSC, would be an improvement over a 2006 MINI Cooper S fwd?

 

The cons with this car is that it is pretty high maintenance. I can't remember who said it right now, but "it's the cheapest Jaguar to buy and the most expensive to own". I can't really gloss over
that part just because I love
the car.....I have a 95 XJS and a 74 E type that where both my grandfathers cars originally, and those are not nearly as difficult and high maintenance as this car...... Main problems are transmission failures and transfer case failures. Jaguar should have dumped that terrible Jatco transmission after the second production year, but stuck with it all thru 2009..... It does not have much pick up compared to an Audi or BMW of the same era.

That being said I am on my second X type as a daily driver. I do baby them however. . (my first got flooded out and totalled) I would buy a third without hesitation. This is one of the last cars to roll of the assembly line that looks like a Jaguar, and that has a connection to everything Jaguar made all thru it's history. It may be mass produced, but it has that old British handmade feel ....Round headlights, flutted bonnet. The interior, the wood everywhere, the level of uniqueness very few cars have left. And yes, if you are mechanically inclined the forum has many solutions and work arounds to save money. Evidently the more that you can handle yourself, the less costly it is. I like to handle lots of items myself because it interests me, is rewarding and it, saves money, but I also take the car in because I have other things to do with my time than dedicate a whole day to the car.

As as long as you understand that this is not a Maintenance free Toyota Corolla experience you will probably be ok.

 

Each car and its history is different and I can only speak of my experience, but I had mine for close to 7 years and consider it one of the most reliable cars I have owned. Bought it 3 years old at 42K miles on it and had almost 160K when I sold it and never had anything major happen to it other than the prop shaft (under warranty), replace the "Big Three" parts that cause vacuum leaks (<$100 and about 15 minutes of my time), a battery, lower rear control arms and the coolant expansion tank nothing really needed attention. Made sure all the fluids were changed regularly and kept up with regular maintenance. Maybe it being a manual had something to do with it, I don't know. When I sold it I probably needed to put some money into the front suspension, but that was more things wearing out more than being unreliable. Otherwise, no squeaks or rattles, still felt solid and the AC was ice cold. Was a great car to me. Paid $13,300 for it at the height of the economic downturn and turned out to be an absolute steal.

 

JDB, my experience with the X-Type is similar to Alfa's. In the 100K miles that I owned the car (covering about 7 years of ownership), I did the normal stuff (brake pads, rotors, shocks/struts, upper rear control arm, lower/forward control arm, PCV valve and hose, IMT o-rings, brake booster hose, upper O2 sensors, and spark plugs/o-rings). This is fairly standard stuff for a car with 188K miles on it when I sold it. The only thing that I would consider outside the normal was the car had a habit of going through a rear brake caliper a year. The e-brake lever would stick and in the end, result in the e-brake not functioning. Got to the point that I just started rebuilding my own calipers (I have a post on here about how to do it). I get me a spare caliper for each side and simply pulled the old one off and slapped the rebuilt one in its place.

As for being a leadfoot, if you are launching off the line, that may be an issue. You want to cruise the highways at 80+ mph, the car will love you for it.

 

By the time I write this reply you probably already made a decision, but this is my third X-Type, I would say the X-Type is build for gentlemen, every now and then you can launch rough on her a little, if you do it all the times she doesn't like it, when she got pissed off, you be in trouble, just like a beautiful woman, take good care of her you can ride her high speed on the highway all day long, some times the weather get roughed, she'll serve you well, she look so sexy with just right curvy lines of classic of yesterday cars and with most modern technologies mixed with the classy comfortable inside.